Socsbox News

SocsBox News

Committee Newsletter Vol: 3, March 5th 2021

Check out previous editions at this link, (it's the purple box on the socs website) View our promo video here In this week's edition

University Policies and Societies 2 Marchathon Week 1 12

Constitutions and your committee 3 Soc’s Week in Review Book Club Law soc centenary 13

Guests and the Schedule of Allowances 8 Society Upcoming Events 14

March Lunch Meetups 9 Barry’s News (SU Socs chair) 16

Student Tax Clinics 10 Competition Tim eRiddles (Prize) 18

Society Training 10 SocsBox Social Media 19

Themed Weeks 11 UPDATE: N ews Update Socs Awards virtual event moved to Wednesday April 28th to avoid Welcome to our New Societies 11 clashing with USI Awards on April 29th

University Policies and Societies

Societies are part of the University and as such are subject to University rules and regulations. Some of these policies are old and in need of review some have been recently updated.

Over the next few months we are going to look at both the University policies and the society specific policies (developed by the USCG) in greater detail and see what implications they have for society activity and behaviour, see if they are fit for purpose and with the support of you and the USCG make recommendations on any updates and changes that we as a collective believe would be of benefit to the University, Societies and the general student population. We will look for your input each week on a particular policy.

In the meantime it is very important that as a society you are aware of these rules and regulations which explicitly refer to Societies or are pertinent to Societies.

Policies that Societies are subject to, click on the titles for the links:

● QA600 Anti-Bullying Policy for Students (does not explicitly refer to societies) ● QA601 Alcohol Policy (refers to societies) ● QA602 Abridged Alcohol Policy (refers to societies) ● QA604 Authorised Absences (refers to societies) ● QA606, Student Sexual Harassment Policy (does not explicitly refer to societies) ● QA607 Mental Health Strategy (refers to societies) ● QA608 Missing Student Protocol (refers to societies) ● QA611 Student Complaints Procedure (does not explicitly refer to societies) ● QA612 Postering Policy (refers to societies) ● QA613 Procedures on Payments to Clubs, Societies, Mentors and Students ● QA616 NUI Galway Code of Conduct (refers to societies) Form: Submission of an Allegation Related to Breach of Student Code of Conduct (does not refer to societies) Form for Submission for Discipline Appeal (does not explicitly refer to societies) ● QA617 Social Media Policy (refers to societies) ● Child Protection Policy

There are also a series of Policies developed by the USCG over time for Societies and they can all be viewed here. ● Society Complaints Procedure ● External Affiliation ● Society retaining recognition ● Constitutions ● Society Equipment Protocol ● Society Alumni and outside Groups Guidelines. ● University Insurance Information ● Fundraising Guidelines ● Ball & Large Event Code

This week we are going to look in more detail at The Societies Policy on Society Constitutions.

Constitutions and Your Committee

Constitution FAQ

Q: What is a constitution?

A constitution is a formal document drawn up by an organisation. It serves as a set of fundamental rules, statements and principles by which that organization is defined and governed. A society constitution should clearly set out what a society aspires to achieve, its aims, and how it may conduct its affairs.

Q: Why does every society need a constitution?

A Society’s Constitution is the fundamental Article of Association of that Society. It provides a framework under which the society may conduct its affairs and formally establishes that Society.

A Society needs a constitution so that in the face of any dispute over the running of the Society, its members and its committee may turn to its Constitution for guidance as to how the Society should be run, while at the same time maintaining the society and resolving the dispute.

Q: Where can I find a Society’s constitution?

All societies must have their up-to-date constitution on their society profile. These may be viewed on the Societies’ website. If the constitution is missing, or you suspect it is an old copy, contact the Societies’ Office.

Q: Who governs Societies and their constitutions?

The University Societies’ Co-ordination Group (USCG) governs all Societies and specific Society related policies. Further information on the USCG can be found on the Societies website.

Q: How do I change my society’s constitution?

If a constitution is in place, the Society’s members can propose an amendment to it at any Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting (AGM or EGM respectively). If an amendment is proposed, and the members vote to adopt the amendment, the Amendment Proposal Form should be filled out. If the USCG ratifies the amendment(s), the Constitution is then updated. Note that the USCG may invalidate part or parts of existing constitutions, if such part or parts are in disagreement with University policy or regulations.

Q: I’m setting up a new society, how do I create a constitution?

The first step is to download the Society Constitution Template (which can be found at: socs.nuigalway.ie), this will be the base you build your constitution upon. Fill out the Amendment Proposal Form, ensuring that you have completed all the necessary changes, and send it to the USCG. The USCG may suggest further changes, or ratify the draft constitution. Once ratified, it ceases to be a draft and can no longer be edited, except as outlined above.

Note that you should use clear and direct language. Avoid repetition, scrutinize carefully, and remove any ambiguous statements. It is important that your constitution remains functional, concise and unambiguous

Constitution template

Section II - Guide to amending your constitution.

To make an amendment, you will need to hold a General Meeting (AGM or EGM) of the Society and the Members must vote to accept it. Both the General Meeting and the vote must be in keeping with your existing constitution.

The specific wording of the Amendment(s) to be made must be filled into the Amendment Proposal Form.

A copy of the current constitution must be edited to include amendments exactly as expressed in the Amendment Proposal Form. Edits in the form of additions must be highlighted or emboldened and deleted points must be indicated by a strikethrough.

A soft-copy of the Amendment Proposal Form must be sent to the Societies Officer, with the edited constitution attached. If the Amendments have already been passed by the Society attach the minutes of the General Meeting this took place at, including the relevant motion as passed by the Society. The form should be sent by email as follows:

To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected]

Subject: {Society Name}, Constitutional Amendment, {Date}

The amendments will be reviewed by the USCG who will either ratify the amendments, reject them or seek changes before ratifying.

Amendment proposal form

Section III - Guide to creating your constitution

The Societies Constitution Template will form the base of your new Constitution.

The Template should be edited to include amendmendments specific to your Society. Edits in the form of additions must be highlighted or emboldened and deleted points must be indicated by a strikethrough. {Bracketed red parts of text} are guidelines and should be deleted or replaced.

The specific wording of the Amendment(s) to be made must be filled into the Amendment Proposal Form, exactly as you want to edit the template.

To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: {Society Name}, Constitutional Amendment, {Date}

The amendments will be reviewed by the USCG who will either ratify the amendments, reject them or seek changes before ratifying. See the Policy on Policy on Accepting & Ratifying Amendments to Society Constitutions for more information.

This section covers the rules as agreed by the USCG in relation to societies constitutions

Policy on Accepting & Ratifying Amendments to Society Constitutions This policy aims to outline a working procedure for the way in which Society Constitutions are changed under normal circumstances and clarify the necessary steps to making amendments. It covers the manners in which amendments should be proposed and to existing constitutions and are ratified, and in which new constitutions are created and ratified.

Amendments to Constitutions Under this policy, the USCG may consider a proposal to amend the Constitution of the Society.

Proposing to the Society An amendment may be proposed by a member/members of the Society, or the Committee. It may be proposed in writing to the Committee in advance of a General Meeting, or by a motion at a General Meeting.

Passing by the Society Except where otherwise provided for in this policy, Amendments must be passed by vote at a quorate General Meeting of the Society as per the current version of the Constitution. Such General Meetings must be convened as per the current Constitution.

Proposing to the USCG On foot on an Amendment being passed by the Society, the Committee shall propose the Amendment to the USCG. They shall complete the Amendment Proposal Form and send it to the Secretary of the USCG, the Societies Officer. The Committee may also propose an amendment to the USCG if they deem it necessary.

Ratifying by the USCG The USCG may ratify Amendments to constitutions which are proposed by the Society. Amendments may be rejected if the USCG deems them to be any of the following; in breach of any University or USCG policy, contrary to the aims of the Society, detrimental to the running of the Society, not an accurate reflection of the amendment voted by the Society, ambiguous, or poorly worded or phrased.

Coming into effect Ratified amendments are written into the Constitution and the draft number increases to reflect that it is a new version. This new Draft comes into effect, replacing and nullifying the existing Draft, on a specified date; this is the date at which the new Draft is Adopted. If a point in time is specified by the USCG as the point at which the amendments come into effect (eg. at the next General Meeting, concurrent with the handover to the next committee, or 30 days from this date, etc.), then that date shall be the Date on which it is Adopted. If no date is specified, the new Draft comes into effect immediately after being ratified and the date on which it is ratified is the date on which it is adopted. The Draft number, date on which the most recent amendments were ratified, and the date on which the Draft came into effect shall all be indicated on the first page of the Constitution, ahead of Article 1.

Validity The USCG may determine that any Amendment is null and void in certain conditions hereinafter; The Amendment is in breach of Irish or International Law, The Amendment is in breach of University or USCG policy, The Amendment was not included as proposed.

In such cases, the Amendment is to be removed from the Constitution and any changes invoked by that amendment are to be reversed..

New Constitutions Under this policy, the USCG may consider a proposal to ratify a new constitution, as opposed to amending specific components of an existing constitution, in certain circumstances outlined herein; i. where the Society is a provisional/new Society and does not have an existing constitution ratified by the USCG, ii. where the USCG is satisfied that no pre-existing Draft of the Societies Constitution can be found, iii. where the Society has determined that it’s Existing Constitution does not serve the purposes of the Society and has voted to replace it at a quorate General Meeting of the Society.

Where such a proposal is accepted, the Societies Constitution Template shall be taken as Draft 0 of the Society’s New Constitution. All adaptations shall be proposed as Amendments as outlined in this policy under Amendments to Constitutions.

In circumstances i. and ii. outlined above, the adaptations to Draft 0 of the Society’s New Constitution need not be passed by a quorate General Meeting in order to be ratified. In circumstance iii. outlined above, the adaptations to Draft 0 of the Society’s New Constitution must be passed by a quorate General Meeting in order to be ratified, this need not be concurrent with the vote to replace its Existing Constitution. The Existing Constitution remains in effect until the new Draft is ratified.

Timeline of Constitutional changes

1. All new societies and provisional societies would adopt the new template in September 2014.

2. All societies who have updated or made a request to update their constitution in the last 2 years will move to the new template by end of semester one.

3. All societies who do not have a constitution or are working from the existing template will move to the new template by end of semester one.

4. The working group will then work with societies with other constitutions with a view to all societies adopting the format of the new template, by May 2015. There is scope for additional articles and variation in the detail but the layout should be the same. These will be dealt with on a case by case basis; all standing orders will also need to be looked at.

All societies will be required to have their constitutions in their file vault with a link on their profile page. Societies will be requested to ensure this is the case in September 2014, this will facilitate the working group ascertaining into which categories the societies fall.

Download the word version of the constitution form the link on www.socs.nuigalway.ie, once your new constitution is approved by the USCG, upload it to your file vault as a PDF and put it link to it on your profile page on www.socs.nuigalway.ie An Irish language version is available also.

A gender neutral template was introduced in June 2017 and societies with existing approved constitutions a society may choose to adopt this template without USCG 20 approval or an AGM if they make no other changes other than references to gender.

All other changes require approval as outlined above.

All new societies will use this template.

Read full article here

If you have any thoughts or comments on this policy please email [email protected] with ‘Constitution Policy’ in the subject.

Guests and the Schedule of Allowances

Guest speakers are covered under the Schedule of Allowances, see below. As all of your guests will be attending via zoom/online platform there will be no travel expenses but the funding you would have spent on accommodation, dinner and reception can be used if a speaker requires a fee.

There is a big opportunity to get high profile speakers that would not be able to travel to Galway so it is a good opportunity to get a speaker you would not have dreamt of getting before. We can also look to team you up with societies in another colleges to host a joint event and share expenses.

Be sure you advertise your Speaker (put on the calendar, upload a poster, post to your social media and share with the SocsBox, you can also create a new article for the Socs website). If they are of interest to staff, tick the ‘staff’ tick box in your calendar event and have it created by Thursday morning of the previous week to be in the Staff Diary ‘Dialann”. If of interest outside the University be sure to write a press release (include a quote) and send it to [email protected] in the Marketing office and give as much time as possible to get the word out. Funding Available €125 - €205, if you need additional funding please contact Riona on [email protected]

Wording in the Schedule:

Guest Speakers Travel from abroad max €200 per speaker.

Travel for Speakers from within Ireland but outside Galway €50

Taxi €20 for all speakers including speakers from Galway.

Speaker’s dinner, reception, taxi and accommodation

Speakers outside Galway

Max Allowance: €205

Breakdown; Accommodation max €80, Dinner max €75 and Reception max €50. Additional

speakers at one talk, increase Accommodation max by €80, increase Dinner max by €25 and Reception max by €5.

Speakers from Galway

Max Allowance: €125

Break down €75 for Dinner and €50 for Reception.

Given the current circumstances, a fee may be given in lieu of travel/accommodation expenses -

please contact the Societies Office to discuss.

March Lunch Meetups If you would like to get your society involved in the March Lunch meetups please email Riona at [email protected] See the image below where we are looking for some societies still (?). There is €50 per day for any participating society up to two societies, if more than two society sign up this will be split to a minimum of €20 per participating society. You are all welcome to come to any of these session.

It has also been agreed to start a hangout event on Mondays from 6pm - 8pm so would love to have societies involved, this will start on March 22nd. If you are interested let Riona know and we will set up break out rooms for socs who have ideas for activities.

Monday March 8th - Thursday April 1st.

March 15th March 16th March 17th March 18th

Second Med, Nursing Closed - Health Science & students: Second Arts Second Biz & Law on Tomorrow Second Eng & Science

society: Compsoc Law Soc Neuro Soc

Dramsoc

society: African & Caribbean Nursing and Midwifery

March 22nd March 23rd March 24th March 25th

Third Med, Nursing students: Third Arts Third Biz & Law Third Eng & Science Health Science

society: Dramsoc Law Soc African & Caribbean Emergency Medicine

society: Compsoc ? Compsoc Paediatric Soc

March 29th March 30th March 31th April 1st

Fourth & Postgrads Biz & Fourth & Postgrads Eng & Fourth & Postgrads Med, students: Fourth & Postgrads Arts Law Science Nursing Health Sci

society: PostGrad Soc Law Soc ? Compsoc

society: Writers Group Dramsoc ? Environmental Soc

Student Tax Clinics

NUI Galway’s Student Tax Clinic, provided by our colleagues in the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, is now open online, supporting students in their tax compliance in a free and confidential setting. The Irish tax system and particularly its personal tax system is increasingly complex. It therefore comes as no surprise that many taxpayers in Ireland who are unable to access or afford a tax practitioner do not file their tax returns correctly or at all. Students who have been an employee or PAYE worker this year or over the past four years or have been in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or impacted financially otherwise by COVID-19, may need information on their tax credits, payments, or potential refunds.

To help address this problem, the Tax Clinic is on hand to provide vital, up to date information for students on their tax questions and concerns, to ensure they understand the tax implications of their working lives and financial situations, and to arm them with the knowledge to manage their tax affairs into the future. Individual consultations are provided by our tax students under the supervision of professional tax experts in a caring and trusting environment. This initiative is supported by the Student Project Fund and will run for at least six weeks at first, offering practical tax information and support to students with tax concerns and queries arising from a change in their circumstances, particularly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Book an Appointment

The Tax Clinic Director, Professor Emer Mulligan, is grateful to the tax students and professional tax advisors for giving their time and expertise to the running of this clinic on a pro bono basis. To book an appointment visit our website.

Society Training

If you haven't signed up for training yet check out the list of next week's training below. Dont forget there are 15 modules in your dashboard and completing 2 modules completes your training requirements. Full details at this link

To sign up for training fill in this form.

Themed Weeks

Next week is Substance Awareness Week and the week after is Student Health & Academic Success, if you have ideas for Student Health & Academic Success 22nd - 26th March put them on the calendar by this coming Wednesday at noon add #NUIGStudentHealthAcademicSuccess and we will get them added to the themed week page.

Check out the lineup of upcoming Themed Weeks here

Welcome to our New Societies

Unlike most years this year the USCG agreed to accept applications for new societies throughout the year. A series of societies received provisional recognition at the USCG meeting on Wednesday. Our new Social Action & Political Societies are Aontú Society, Capitalist Society and Leftist Society, our new Lifestyle and Wellbeing Society is Stoic Society and our new Academic Society is GP Society.

Over the next few weeks they will be holding EGM, creating their profiles and organising events. We are also delighted to welcome back African Caribbean Society who held an EGM recently and Philosophy Society who are getting back up and running. If your society is struggling please contact us at [email protected] or call into the Socsbox Virtual help desk.

Marchathon Week 1

With Week one under our belt how did the societes fair with their walking for marchathon? Did the Socsbox come out on top and will this week's prize of €10 per entrant go to the Cancer Society for their fundraising for the Irish Cancer Society? Or to the participants of the winning team. Please let us know if your society is involved and give us the name of your team.

NUIG Ranking Team Average 50 teams in total steps per member Society

5 Gaillimhunz 93,254 Cumann Gaelach

10 NUIG SocsBox Steppers 81,863 SocsBox

11 Pimp My Stride 81,069 Energy Soc

13 Postgrad Research Society 77,049 Postgrad Research Soc

19 Walking 9 to 5 (Anime Soc) 73,170 Anime and Manga

22 Cumann Staire Group 1 69,921 Cumann Staire

26 NUI Galway CompSoc 63,803 Compsoc

28 Flirty Rock 2: Walking from Home 62,628 Flirt FM

32 Red Hot Chilli Steppers- History Soc NUIG 56,131 Cumann Staire

34 Speedreaders #Bookclub 53,610 Book Club

44 Team Act-imel (NUIG Dramsoc) 35,019 Dramsoc

48 pogchamps (dramsocnuig) 13,109 Dramsoc

Congrats to all involved and in particular to Aifric, Barry Honoria and Saibh from Cumann Gaelach you were our winners for week 1.

Socs Week in Review

If you have a review of a society event you would like to share email it to [email protected]

Time Lord Soc and Book Club Present: Fandom Discussions!

On Tuesday the 9th of March Time Lord Soc and Book Club had an amazing collab event that discussed all things fandom from fan fiction to storytelling of growing up in the online fandom world.

For reference, a fandom is a collective term for a group of people that are interested in a piece of media. For example a Whovian is a fan of Doctor Who or a Trekkie is a fan of Star Trek. Naturally the folks at Time Lord Soc and Book Club have all been involved in various fandoms as was discussed on the night.

The event itself was held on the Time Lord Soc discord server but everyone was chatting away to each other as if it was just another day on campus. Some of the members of the two socs shared their fan fictions ranging from very well written and thoughtful pieces, to parodies that involved the auditor of Time Lord settling an argument with Stuart Little, although it was hard to tell through the muffled laughter.

Regardless of which side of the serious spectrum they landed on, the fan fiction readings were a genuinely fun time for everyone who was at the event and a trip down memory lane for anyone involved with fandoms growing up. The topic turned to discussing fandoms. Topics discussed include the best website to go read fanfics (AO3 was argued to be the best). Some of the most wholesome fandoms include speedrunning (playing video-games as fast as you can), She-Rah (a very LGBT+ friendly show) and Dragon-Age (a very popular story based video-game).

Some of the worst fandoms included Homestuck, My Little Pony, Hamilton, Smash Bros and Hetalia. Overall it was a great event that felt very welcoming for new and old members alike as with every Book Club and Time Lord event. Both societies operate a lot on their discord servers and are very welcoming to new members.

Society Events Coming up!

Take a look at this very acting cool opportunity open to all society members!

Dramsoc & Lawsoc Mediation Competition!

Dramsoc are collaborating with Lawsoc in a Mediation Competition on the 13th of March, where Lawsoc members will settle a dispute between two characters - Caroline and John Dramsoc need people to play Caroline and John! If you sign up you’ll get the character background of John/Caroline and you can completely play with the character from there deciding who you think your character is and then completely getting into their skin. There's no audition and no limit to the number of applicants who can take part. We will cast as many Carolines and Johns as we can, because we want as many different interpretations of these roles as possible! So all you have to do is click on the sign up sheet below to take part! Please read this information before you sign up! Sign up sheet!

Cheersoc Speed Friending!

CheerSoc are running a Speed Dating night in aid of Jigsaw, a wonderful Mental Health Charity. This is a great chance to meet new people and spend time socially for St. Patrick’s Day! It’s also an excellent opportunity to build inter-society connections! It will almost be like running into people in Aras na Mac Leinn!

If you have a big event coming up and would like other socs involved email us at [email protected] for inclusion in the News Letter.

Barry’s News

News from the SU Societies Chairperson

Hi everyone!!

Tá súil agam go raibh seachtain iontach agaibh, and that you are all enjoying Seachtain na Gaeilge. Which runs for 2 weeks and finished next week.

This week I am going to share some useful Irish phrases you may wish to include.

Hey everyone! Here’s just a quick document on how to use more Irish in your society. Through the lists you’ll see how to use it in your emails, posters and a couple of other bits. I hope this is helpful in some way! There’s a phrase in Irish which say “Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste ná Béarla cliste,” which means broken Irish is better than smart English. So hopefully if you could all start using these few words it’ll make a difference to people’s perception of Gaeilge.

Best ways to start an email to one person or to loads of people. It would be great if you could use these in your society emails.

Start email: A chara, Friend, A chairde, Friends, Haigh (a chairde)! Hey (friends)! Dia dhaoibh (gach duine), Hello (everyone),

And if you want to finish your email, I recommend you use these!

Finish email: (Mise) Le meas, (Me) With respect, Le dea-mhéin, With , Le gach dea-guí, With every best wish, Míle buíochas, Many thanks, Le grá, With love, Go raibh (míle) maith agat, Thank you (very much),

If you’re looking to use different bits of Irish in your email I’ll leave a list of stuff here.

Email Fillers: Tá súil agam go bhfuil tú go maith. I hope you’re keeping well. Go raibh maith agat as ucht do fhreagra. Thank you for your answer. Táim ag súil le do fhreagra. I’m looking forward to your answer. Feicfidh mé go luath thú (sibh)! See you (plural) soon!

When you’re making your posters or sending out information, here’s some common words that you’d use that maybe you could use the Irish.

Posters: Luan Monday Máirt Tuesday Céadaoin Wednesday Déardaoin Thursday Aoine Friday Satharn Saturday Domhnach Sunday r.n a.m i.n p.m Bígí ann! Be there! Bígí linn! Be with us! Scaipigí an focal! Spread the word! Craic agus spraoi! Lots of fun!

Finally, here’s a list of random words that you can throw in here and there.

Random words: Cumann Society Cathaoirleach Chairperson Baill Members Imeacht Event Cruinniú Ginerálta Bliantúil Annual General Meeting SocsBosca SocsBox Cathaoirleach na gCumann Societies Chairperson Comhaltas na Mac Léinn Students Union Bunreacht Constitution Meán Sóisialta Social Media Croí-Cheathair Core four

Competition time

Congratulations to Tom O’ Connor for winning this week’s puzzle! Take a look at the correct answers as sent into us by Tom! Tom will be getting a €15 All4One Voucher.

This weeks Riddle.....

Answer these 5 questions.

1. Which is faster hot or cold? 2. Forwards I am heavy, Backwards I am not. What am I? 3. What has teeth but cannot bite? 4. What wears a cap but has no head? 5. Which table does not have legs?

Can you figure out the answers?

Email your answer to [email protected] to be in with a chance to win a €15 Gift Voucher! There will be one winner next week.

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This newsletter will be sent to you every Friday to your society email and NUIG email. If you have an article you would like to include, send it to [email protected] with ‘Socsbox News’ in the title by Thursday at 1pm. It will also be archived in Socs information link on www.socs.nuigalway.ie in the purple box at the top of the home page.